Photo by Steve Benisty
Thomas Vecchione is the head of Workplace Design and a Principal at Gensler, a leading global architecture and design firm. We don’t always think of work environments as the forefront of contemporary and industrial design, and Vecchione is actively – very actively – changing that paradigm for corporate clients like MetLife, Bank of America, Comcast, and the Associated Press. Let’s face it, as much as we might not want to admit it, most of our time is spent in work-related settings. So why not focus on making that environment a bit more design bearable? Gensler’s office in New York in Rockefeller Center sets a precedent for workspace design, not only incorporating contemporary industrial design ideas and objects, but a gallery as well. We spoke with Vecchione about the history of workspace design, the role of hospitality in the office, and Gensler’s gallery space.
WHITEWALL: How did you get involved with merging the corporate world and design? When we think of corporate offices, we don’t always think of industrial or contemporary design. Why is that?
THOMAS VECCHIONE: The idea of corporate interiors has existed for a long time, getting fine-tuned in the sixties after WWII when big industrial companies and big office towers grew and there was an idea of a corporate working environment. Corporate design environments have their legacy in that; in service firms and the growth of the American business movement. Gensler was founded in the early sixties. It established itself as understanding companies and from that, making buildings more adaptable to how organizations need to use them. We do everything but Gensler’s foundational roots are in that model early on in San Francisco. When I joined in 1988, it was the wood wall, it was “my office,” it was the leather chair, it was design as an extension of my self-importance. There was a real focus on flexibility and universal planning. And then in the nineties, with the technology and dotcom movement, all of a sudden people started to break out—there was a new generation in the work place. I always talk about it as the cultural revolution.
WW: As far as design in the work place, that’s what first comes to mind for me – Silicon Valley’s open-air offices where things like video games were designed and tested in the late nineties.
TV: Technology started to get smaller and smarter and it started to de-tether people from the desk opening up to more of a collaborative, service and innovation model. We now live in a knowledge economy. More lifestyle started to play a role in the office environment. Think about the idea of W Hotels, how they took the hotel and turned it into a nightclub. Everything became a boutique. Design started to evolve but it was at an immature level, it was extremely playful. Design in the work place for me has always been relevant, it’s always been there, it just takes a lot of different forms.
WW: What are the more challenging design paradigms shifts in an office space?
TV: Most offices have been designed for sitting at your desk, focusing. Collaborative spaces are the spaces that people really need to start paying attention to. Does the technology of a conference room work? Are people using the conference room? Is the conference room close to where people need it to be? Does it have the right furniture? Is it flexible? Conference rooms are the next generation to be figured out. If people in your office environment are spending so much time collaborating, you really want those rooms to function the way a great work space does.
WW: Walking around Gensler’s office in New York, those ideas of boutique/hospitality design and even art are very present.
TV: Because we’re the largest design firm in New York, because we’re a global practice, this office is like hospitality suite. We host a lot of clients here. We have our concierge, we have our big food service area, and other partners from other offices have meetings here. We have aspects of hospitality for our employees, like our employee canteen, areas that have a little more of a restaurant feel, a little more of a comfortable, relaxed feel.
There’s an art installation here you see by Markus Linnenbrink, that’s painted on the wall that runs throughout the floor. That’s our ongoing gallery where we do rotating exhibits. We have art programs here because we are still a design firm and we want to and have our guests see up-to-date design quality.
Markus Linnenbrink's mural, photo by David Joseph.
WW: How do you choose the artists for the gallery?
TV: We choose the artists through an art steering committee and we have everything from the art student league, who has hosted events here, to different young aspiring artists, to established artists like Linnenbrink. Usually this is more of a gallery and we wanted to explore the history of murals at Rockefeller Center. What if we take our gallery and think of it as the art itself? People can be in it, experience it.
WW: I imagine a lot of your clients have corporate art collections.
TV: All the time, we work with art consultants and art collections. Art is really important. Art does a number of things, but in the corporate world it’s inspirational, it sends out a subtle point of view, it enlivens the spirit, it engages the community that the organization lives in. Art collections represent to some degree an idiosyncratic cultural aspect of the company. Some of them play much larger roles than others. Certain clients use a collection for status, certain clients use it for investment, certain clients use it to engage and inspire and create compelling and provoking ideas with their employees. Some clients, like us, use art to engage the community.
Vecchione at the employee canteen in Gensler’s New York Office where a long, shared table with benches replaces the cafeteria style set up.
